


2:09am

by lovelettrs



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, nothing really just junhoon messing around on the piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 10:22:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12209310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelettrs/pseuds/lovelettrs
Summary: in which jihoon and junhui play piano together





	2:09am

It’s been a long day, to say the very least. Jihoon loves his job, of course he does, but he’ll admit that occasionally it becomes exhausting for him when he’s up past midnight trying to edit a song. Nothing wrong with that — it is his _job_ after all — but times like this there’s nothing he wants more than to head home, take a hot shower and sleep for hours.

Jihoon exits his personal studio, locking the door behind him before quickly pulling out his phone to check the time and _holy shit, past 2am already?_ He shoves the illuminated object back into the pocket of his hoodie, sighing to himself as his free hand rubs the sleep from his eyes. It was certainly going to be a long drive back to the dorm, but at least once he was there he’d be able to get a good night’s (or morning’s) sleep.

He treads through the company with silent footsteps, bowing at the few employees and janitors that are still around at such an ungodly hour. It seemed that most people had gone home already (and Jihoon can’t blame them for that), so Pledis looked empty and rather stripped and bare without the usual chatter of people.

Jihoon is heading down the second flight of stairs when hears the sudden sound, faint in the distance: a piano, unmistakably and evidently coming from one of the smaller recording rooms in the building.

The song is foreign, and Jihoon can’t say he’s ever heard it before. Needless to say it’s _good_ , sounds like a difficult song to master and so inwardly Jihoon praises whoever is playing so skillfully. He plans to simply take a glimpse in at whoever’s inside, wish them a goodnight and then be on his merry way home to the dorm when suddenly he passes the room and his eyes land on a familiar head of blonde hair and — _holy shit, Junhui’s still here?_

The Chinese boy is sat at the piano, eyes focused and cast onto the piano keys. His posture is perfect, sitting upright with his feet planted onto the ground and while he looks calm, head swaying to the slow music his hands are a different story; they’re everywhere, all at once, producing a sound that Jihoon can only describe as incredible. _Where on Earth did Junhui learn to play like this? How is he so good?_

Jihoon won’t lie. The fact that Junhui plays piano, and plays so well, only multiplies his attractiveness by a thousand. It’s not just that good hands are always a bonus (and Junhui’s hands are _better_ than just good) but it’s knowing that Junhui is clever, knowing that he has a talent for something like this, that makes Jihoon love him even more.

Jihoon listens intently, waiting for the song to finish on a lingering note and Junhui is just sitting and not moving when suddenly Jihoon speaks up, “you’re still awake?”

Junhui’s fingertips freeze over the piano keys, jumping in shock and head shooting upwards as the music halts abruptly and instantly he’s letting out a sigh of relief, “oh my God, don’t ever scare me like that again, oh my God, what are you _doing_ —”

“Sorry.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Not long.” Jihoon gestures at the piano, “don’t let me stop you. It was good.”

“No, not at all,” is Junhui’s instantaneous reply, eyes downcast at the piano.

 _Too modest_ , Jihoon thinks, _give yourself some credit, dude._

The smaller boy stifles a roll of his eyes, saying, “I thought you were at the dorm.”

“Yeah, I planned to go home after practice but I just stopped by here to play a little.”

There’s silence then, Jihoon’s eyes on Junhui’s hands and they both feel awkward tension arising between the two of them while they wait for the other to speak. Their relationship was close of course, but they had never really had this sort of moment together — when they were alone, just the two of them — so inevitably a little discomfort was bound to happen.

A shame that the atmosphere was so strange between the two; perhaps the fact that they were both mutually and _majorly_ crushing on each other was causing such a disaster. Neither of them would ever admit it to the other’s face, but amongst all of the secret glances and whispering between the other boys, it did end up becoming a tad obvious that one of them liked the other, and vice versa.

Junhui’s voice casually interrupts the silence, asking as he surveys Jihoon’s frame in the doorway, “are you going home now?”

“Yeah, I’m tired so I thought I’d just go get some sleep.” Jihoon leans against the doorway nonchalantly, gesturing briefly at the piano to say, “but then, you know, I saw you here, so…”

Junhui nods, replying with an “ah” in a quiet hum and the awkwardness begins to build again so quickly Jihoon remarks, “it really was good, by the way. The song you were playing. You’re good.”

_Way to go, Jihoon. You don’t think you could be this much of a stuttering idiot when you’re not in front of a cute boy?_

Junhui shakes his head vigorously at that, eyes downcast and looking at the instrument. “No, no…”

“What’s it called?” Jihoon asks, genuinely intrigued. “The song, I mean.”

“I-It’s an OST,” Junhui replies, “It’s Chinese. _The Legend of Qianlong?_ ”

“Ah, I’ve never heard of it.” Jihoon pauses, then murmurs casually, “it was really good—” _Lee Jihoon, one of the best lyricists and composers in the game, and you can’t even come up with a better adjective than ‘good’?_ “—I didn’t know you could play piano so well.”

Junhui shakes his head against, hiding a wide grin, “no, it’s nothing, really. You’re much better than I am.”

And maybe that’s just what sparks the idea in Jihoon’s mind, a bulb lighting up with a _ting!_ inside him as he steps forward bravely and towards the boy clad in basketball shorts and a big, grey hoodie. His lips part, trying his hardest to conceal a smile as he asks, “could I play with you for a bit?”

Junhui’s nodding almost immediately and babbles out a quick “o-of course you can! No-no need to ask me.” Jihoon does his very best to pretend not to take any notice of the rose-gold blush that paints itself onto Junhui’s cheeks.

Jihoon slides himself onto the leather piano seat, right beside Junhui, hands coming instinctively into place onto the piano keys. Before Jihoon can switch on his Music Nerd mode and talk the other’s ear off with a bunch of useless (yet definitely interesting) musical stories, Junhui asks, “know any duets?”

 _A duet_ ; Jihoon’s heart very nearly bursts from his chest with joy at the thought of performing a duet with Junhui, and the fact that Junhui had first suggested it makes Jihoon feel even more giddy inside. A _duet_ , with _Junhui_ of all people! How Jihoon manages a stone-cold expression when the biggest, toothiest grin is just _itching_ to erupt is beyond him.

Gulping discreetly, Jihoon’s brain racks trying desperately to think of a well-known piano duet. He blurts out the first few that come to mind, “ _Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy?_ ” he suggests, then grows embarrassed at the first choice so starts to ramble, “y-you, Tchaikovsky has all the classics. What about… _Hungarian Rhapsody?_ I’m sure you know that one. Or _Swan Lake?_ Never gets old, o-or what about _Sonata in D Major?_ Honestly it’s pretty hard and Mozart’s never been my favourite since I really prefer Beethoven and anyways, I can’t say I even _remember_ the whole thing but I mean I could certainly _try_ —”

“ _Swan Lake,_ ” Junhui selects in a breath, voice soft to intervene with Jihoon’s speech, “I think I know that one.”

Jihoon’s never felt happier to be with a person than he feels with Junhui when the older boy says that. He’s not saying anything special, just choosing a song to play but Jihoon _swears_ that the sound of his voice — so goddamn _gentle like that_ — it could drive a person mad. Jihoon himself very much included.

And so Jihoon’s fingers are poised and placed onto the correct keys, waiting for Junhui to do the same on his end of the piano and he counts under his breath “one, two, three four” before they both press down, creating a melody that exudes beauty and elegance.

The song flows smoothly as their hands move in unison, delicately tapping all the right keys and they listen to the harmony that comes from their hands. Jihoon can’t help but let his eyes wonder off to stare at Junhui’s, moving gracefully over the keys and Jihoon allows his mind to travel, _how can someone have such enticing hands..._

Jihoon presses down on a key too low, pinky finger missing the correct key while he’s distracted with the thought of Junhui’s delectable fingers and he blushes profusely, preparing to mutter a “sorry” while he continues to play but before he can say anything—

Junhui laughs. Junhui _laughs_ and the sound is better than any music anyone could ever play. Lighter than cotton-candy, Jihoon thinks, and just as sweet too — dripping like liquid sugar with bright yellows and Jihoon wants so much to stop playing the song altogether just so he can hear the sound.

The experience is one that Jihoon will never, ever forget. The two of them have their hands drifting over the piano, shoulders occasionally bumping against the other’s and they’re having so much _fun_ , Jihoon has no idea how they could be this excited at 2 in the morning but they’re just so comfortable in each other’s presence and Jihoon never wants to leave. At times their hands will brush against the other’s and they’ll both blush, looking down at the keys and not mentioning it to one another. And then there are times when Junhui asks Jihoon how to play a certain song and Jihoon will absentmindedly place his hands over the other boy’s, whispering a “like this” as he corrects the position of his fingers. Jihoon quickly takes his hands away when he realises what he’s doing, thinking, _we’re indirectly holding hands, I’m basically holding his hand, oh my God, oh my God._

The time becomes later (or rather, earlier) and Jihoon is just playing around on the keys when he feels himself start to grow heavy with sleep. He had forgotten that he had been travelling home in the first place until he had gotten distracted with Junhui and those lovely hands, and he’s just thinking that maybe they should wrap it up when—

“Jihoon, it’s getting kind of late,” Junhui yawns from beside him, tugging his hoodie further over his head adorably, “you think we should go home now?”

And Jihoon nods, “I guess we should.”

Reluctantly the two stand from their seat and begin to make their way out the door. It’s a disinclined end to a night that they’d never finish, had there been no such thing as a fan-meeting tomorrow and a sleep schedule, but it doesn’t matter. They’re together, lazily stumbling out of the recording room and laughing about the events of the night, and they couldn’t ask for anything better.

Just as they head towards the parking lot, Junhui turns his head towards the younger boy. “Jihoon?”

“Hm?”

“You don’t actually prefer Beethoven over Mozart, do you?”

“Oh my God, _Junhui_ —”

**Author's Note:**

> posted on my tumblr, peachseong !


End file.
